United Airlines, the world's second largest airlines, disclosed on July 29th that it was breached in May or early June of 2015. It is believed the attack was the work of a group of China-backed hackers behind other major breaches including the Anthem breach. Stolen data includes manifests with information on flights' passengers and destinations. United may be getting assistance from Fed investigators now working on the OPM hack. There are indications that the hackers may have been in the network for months. A domain for the attack was established in April 2014, registered by a James Rhodes, a name that's the alias of "War Machine," a character in Marvel Comics’ Iron Man (experts tracking the OPM hackers note their frequent use of Marvel comic book references).
Kevin Foisy, Chief Software Architect and Co-Founder, STEALTHbits, says: "When we see major infrastructure being attacked, it’s hard not to imagine a state sponsored connection. The Art of War, “know thy enemy” comes to mind when we consider the intelligence being captured. On the surface, there’s sensitive data loss, but the bigger picture is the know-how being gained in ongoing successful penetration of infrastructure. These are undoubtedly training grounds for the real attacks that could come in the event of war. Recent breaches in the area of finance and transportation should serve as a warning for the crippling effects of an e-attack to a technology dependent nation in a time of conflict."
Jeff Hill, Channel Marketing Manager, STEALTHbits added: "More alarming than the increasing sophistication and effectiveness of cyber-attacks is the exploding diversity of motives. From disrupting the release of a movie at Sony, to a moral objection to an adultery website at Ashley Madison or demonstrating opposition to a pending trade bill by targeting the Census Bureau, gone are the days when hackers simply stole credit card numbers to make a quick buck. Can we now add international espionage to that list? Analyzing the travel habits of US government personnel can somewhat harmlessly provide insight into the development of new alliances or business partnerships, but can also be an invaluable tool in the never-ending effort by intelligence agencies to compromise those with access to classified information. Despite the sophistication of high tech satellites, ground-based signals collection and monitoring devices, and other technology, the best intelligence is still obtained from the mid-level government employee desperate to keep his overseas fling a secret."